Read My Lips
by Sarcastic Radiation
Summary: "Look at me when you're talking. I can't see what you're saying if you don't face me." Barry lost his hearing at the age of nine, but he's never used it as a reason to be bitter towards life. But telling people about it can be harder than it seems. (Deaf Barry AU)


Barry poured himself a bowl of cereal. It wasn't his favorite breakfast food, but he didn't have very many options. Joe finally let him move out at the age of 25 and he was at a lack of pantry foods.

The dry, O-shaped cereal from the bottom of the box dropped into his white bowl. The powder puffed up into a small cloud, tickling his nose. As he turned to get the milk he felt his phone vibrate in his right pocket.

 _We have a break in at Queen Co ASD. Two dead._

It was his Starling City police scanner. He pulled up the images and immediately deemed the the case abstruse. Noting the bruising pattern on one of the men's throats, he could tell it wasn't just your run of the mill robbery/homicide duo.

So, without any notice, he was on autopilot. He got ready, packed a bag, called in sick and left. He hardly even stopped to see if his door was locked, leaving his bowl of dry cereal on his counter.

When he hopped onto the train he found a seat nearby a man with dark, curly hair. He was admittedly a bit envious of his free curls and almost wanted to wash the gel out of his own hair.

He gazed outside the window, watching the scenery and weather conditions change as they moved along from stop to stop. He raced the rain drops down the window, and slightly smiled, feeling the nostalgia. He focused his vision on the lightning, either brightening up the entire fields or just the clouds they were stuck behind. Barry was self aware of the metal box he was in, even though his logical side told him there was nothing to be worried about.

He felt serene, almost wanting to fall asleep, when he noticed the curly man from before was suddenly sitting, as a reflection in the window, right next to him. He turned when he watched his lips move.

"I'm sorry," Barry said, "I didn't catch that." His fingers wiggled ever so slightly in his lap.

"I said, 'I hope you don't mind me next to you.' That woman wanted to sit with her kids," he politely responded, seeming to raise his voice.

"That was very kind of you," Barry nodded. "Let me tell you, not everyone is so generous."

"How so?"

"We can just say I wasn't the most popular kid in class," he thought back to all of his elementary through high school bullies. "Barry," he shook the man's hand.

"Darren," he shook Barry's back. "You know, you remind me of somebody I used to know."

"Same here," Barry squinted, trying to picture who he was thinking of. "So, where are you headed?"

"New York," he smiled. "I know, before you say anything it is..," he gestured with his whole body include his head, "you know?"

Barry wanted to say no. He wanted to ask him to repeat himself, but he'd already done that once before, and if he did it again he would be getting all of the weird looks again. So he just nodded his head along, "for sure."

"I was hoping I didn't sound too crazy," Darren winked.

The train began to slow into another station.

"Aw man," Darren exclaimed. "This is my transfer. But when you ... you're headed, give me a call," he handed him a business card.

"Will do," Barry raised the card into the air.

Darren walked off of the train with his hands filled with luggage. Barry sighed with happiness. He didn't know. Darren didn't see his hearing aids. He reached up to touch them, but all he felt was flesh. Oh no. He left his apartment in such a rush that he didn't notice it sitting on his door side table.

 _Oh well_. he shrugged. _If I truly needed them, I would have remembered. I just wear them to ease Joe's concise, and Joe's not here._ Truthfully they did make his day to day life a tad more simple, but he would never say it.

His elementary school days were the worst for him. Not only did his mother get killed, but he was already a special ed kid. How he hated that term. Special was just a gentler word for defected. He was forced to sit with all of the special ed kids, and made friends in the negative numbers.

The hardest part was when they began noticing his exeled learning traits and put him in a few normal classes. They weren't bad because they were too hard on him. In fact, the teachers gave him extra attention and would often tell him he didn't have to do the work if he couldn't. All he wanted to do was scream at them, "I'm Deaf, not stupid," but he knew better. No, the worst part was how all of the kids knew him as. Just another special ed kid.

He wasn't able to show any extra curricular achievements, because his parents wanted him to go through speech therapy and Joe just kept him there. Typically, he and Melody would play a game and she would make him read the playing cards aloud, correcting him if he made the wrong sound. It was nice and all, but he didn't find it very necessary at the time. But now, he just thanked the good Lord for all of the speech therapy he endured; if it wasn't for those, he would sound more deaf than the day is long.

Then, instead of physical education, he had to do a combination of ASL and lip reading. For him it wasn't the worst fate, but he kind of wonders about what could have been.

The hearing aids only worked for him when it came to listening to the bass part of select songs. Even with his headphones over his aids, he would still be getting several complaints from Joe and iris.

He knew better than to listen to his music on public, though.

All in all, Barry was a pretty laid back Deaf. He joked about it a lot, even in inappropriate situations. Like when his boss asked him why he was late to work, he would say, "Sorry I didn't hear my alarm go off."

He was taken out of his trance by the train slowing to another stop. This one was his. He was in Starling. He closed his Science magazine (when did he open that?) and gathered his things.

Emergency overnight clothes? Check.

Tablet? Check.

Hearing aids? Not check.

But spare hearing aid batteries? Who would leave the house without them?


End file.
